Culture Shock
by MidnightResWri
Summary: Danny Fenton really didn't want to go to Japan to ghost hunt with his parents. He didn't know the language. He didn't know what might happen in Amity Park without him there. He wouldn't have Sam and Tucker with him. And worst of all...Full Summary inside
1. Phantom and the Strawberry

**Culture Shock**

By MidnightResWri

**A/N:** To the curious, I'm still working on "Patient Revelations." I really am! I did start this before PR, I just...shoved it aside in favor of that story. Please, enjoy.

**Summary:** Danny Fenton really didn't want to go to Japan to ghost hunt with his parents. He didn't know the language. He didn't know what might happen in Amity Park without him there. He wouldn't have Sam and Tucker with him. And worst of all, Vlad was the one who organized the entire affair. So instead of being able to enjoy the sites, Danny has to keep an eye out for Vlad's schemes of finishing off his dad as well as any ghost attack from the spirits of Japan.

But things start getting weird in their destination of Karakura Town. Danny fights a ghost with a hole in its chest, a desire to eat him, and wearing a mask. He's aided by two mysterious ghosts that use strange swords as weapons. And—wait, did that orange-haired teen just destroy that other ghost? Danny certainly thinks so. Where in the Ghost Zone did all of that come from?

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Danny Phantom or Bleach. They belong to those who created them, own their licenses, and other legal things.

Danny's POV

Chapter One: Phantom and the Strawberry

I really didn't want to be here. Japan is cool and all, but I rather would've been back in Amity Park with Sam and Tucker. The TV only played stuff in Japanese and the radio rarely played something I recognized. And I didn't like what little I knew. So, most of the time alone was spent staring at the ceiling and counting the little dots in silence. The bed was really comfortable, though. Probably because of the guy who paid for the rooms.

Fruit loop.

But why take us to Japan? It wasn't like he needed a different country to kill dad. Not that I'd let him. But still. It was weird, even for the fruit loop. That bothered me a lot on the trip there. Vlad had us take his private jet. I'm still shocked that he didn't try throwing dad out of the plane. I was sure he would have just to get dad from talking about their college days and ghosts. And to get closer to mom. (Ew.) Oddly, he acted polite to him, instead, nodding at times and making small additions to the conversation. It shocked me. But, he also kept staring at me when he thought I wasn't looking. That was too creepy.

When we landed, we already had a hotel waiting and a personal interpretor—I guess there's a difference between that and translators—for each of us when we wanted to go out. I asked him why we he dragged us here, and he just smirked in that "wouldn't-you-like-to-know" sort of way. I was too tired to argue at that time.

We ended up in a place called Karakura Town. I had to ask Jazz about a bazillion times to get the name down. It was a small city, but Vlad said there was a lot of ghost activity in the area. Which made mom and dad ecstatic. Me, I figured that just meant more time ghost fighting. But, that would require Phantom. And he was supposed to be back in Amity. So how would they take his appearance in Japan? It definitely made things harder for me. Either I left the ghost-fighting to them, or I go ghost anyway and pray they never see me. Tough choice.

First day after the flight, mom and dad went off to scout the town out. They wanted to find the spots most likely to have ghosts. Cemeteries, hospitals, and whatnot. As much as I worried about them possibly meeting a ghost and subsequently opening fire in a public place, they refused to take me along as a voice of reason. Jazz left to go sight seeing or something. Dad, of course, gave her an ecto-gun for protection. So that left me and Vlad.

Oh joy.

The morning was uneventful. Thank god. The man stayed away from my room, leaving me alone. I thought about going ghost and flying over the town invisibly. I had even gotten up from the bed, determined to do it, when a knock sounded on the door. Three guesses as to who it was. The first two don't count.

Rolling my eyes, I trudged to the door. I took a deep breath, repressed a groan, and opened the door. Vlad looked down at me, a little smile playing on his lips. I glared up at him. "Couldn't you have just phased through the door, Plasmius?" I grumbled.

"Daniel," chided Vlad, "is that any way to greet someone? Did your father not teach you manners?"

I wanted to punch him. "Sure he did, Vlad," I flashed him my own smile, "but I bet he'd make an exception for the fruit loops who want to steal his wife and kids."

He never dropped that smirk. It made me uncomfortable. "What do you want, Vlad?" I sighed. I didn't let him in. Not by choice. It might give him the idea that I wanted to be around him.

"I was only checking in, little badger," he said. "I figured you must be lonely. After all, your family has scattered across town, leaving you with nothing to do."

Great. He did want something.

He ruffled my hair and chuckled at my glower. "Well, son, why not go on a little tour of our own? Just the two of us."

"And the interpretor," I added. I was _so_ not going to be alone with him in public. "Don't forget him."

His smile widened and I flinched out of reflex. He asked, "Who do you think will be your interpretor, Daniel?"

Immediately knowing the answer, I groaned. If I wanted to leave the hotel, it'd be attached to Vlad's hip. And he could tell people I was his son and I'd never know. Fantastic. "Jā, ikō." He said. I gave him a blank stare. He probably said that just to rub it in that I don't know any Japanese. Evidence: the amused smile. "Well, let's go."

"You know, I think I'm just going to stay in my room," I told him. I grabbed the door to shut it in his face but he simply pushed his way into my room. I shut the door anyway and leaned against it.

"It's not healthy to stay inside, little badger," said Vlad, walking over to the window.

"Neither is being around you for more than ten seconds," I snapped.

Vlad shook his head and opened the lavish curtains, letting in the sunlight. "Honestly, there is a reason I brought you here," he said, putting an emphasis on 'you.'

Narrowing my eyes, I figured I'd let him talk. "You see," he continued, "there's something quite odd about this country and this area in particular."

"And you can't figure it out? You're slipping, Plasmius," I joked. He shot me a glare, to which I smiled innocently. "So why bring my family?" Okay, I didn't want to admit that he had this whole thing set up to get me over here. I was more surprised he didn't go through something more elaborate so it was just the two of us.

"Please, Daniel," he scoffed, "as if I needed your idiot father involved. Your mother and sister would, without doubt, have no use in this business. So that leaves you."

"My question still stands."

He smirked in response. That made me more uncomfortable. "Accidents can happen, Daniel."

Wonderful. "Touch my family, Plasmius," my eyes glowed neon green as I crouched into a fighting stance, "and you're dead."

The older hybrid chuckled and black rings went over him transforming him into his ghost form. The temperature dropped a number of degrees. "Do you honestly believe you can stop me, Daniel? Even if I give the order now, you'd still be here with me unable to do a thing." He invaded my space in the length of a heartbeat, a charged magenta-colored ecto-blast in my face.

I really wanted to punch him. Then shoot an ecto-blast at his chest. But I didn't. He'd probably sick some ghost on dad if I even tried.

Vlad seemed to enjoy watching the emotions play out in my body language. He returned to human form, wearing that trademark smirk like a cheap suit. "Shall we, Daniel? The city awaits."

I relaxed a little, though my shoulders were still tense. Vlad walked to the door, opened it and waited for me to leave first. I grabbed my room key and stepped into the hallway, watching him out of the corner of my eye. He pushed me down the hall and into the elevator, where we stood in silence beside each other. Then we were outside and in a street with very little traffic.

Vlad seemed to know exactly where to go and started moving down the street. Why didn't that surprise me? I reluctantly followed after him, my hands firmly planted in my pockets. He looked behind him every so often to make sure I was still there. No way was I going to keep him out of my sight.

We neared what looked like a school—there were lots of teens hanging around it—when I heard an awful roar. The sound alone made me shake and I looked around to see who else heard it. From what I saw, Vlad was the only other person who had. But it still sounded pretty distant, at least until I saw the blue mist of my ghost sense. Another roar and I felt the ghost's malevolence.

I looked around wildly, looking for a place to go ghost. Vlad stared down at me, amused more than anything. I wished I had the thermos, too. "Daniel, what are you doing?" he asked me.

"Uh, ghost? Sounds really evil? Could hurt people?" I gestured toward the sky, where I figured it would be coming from.

"Fight it, if you must," he said in a bored tone, turning his eyes away from me. They focused somewhere on the school grounds, instead. I took that as my cue. At least the guy was going to let me do my job. In hindsight, I should have questioned that decision of his.

I ran behind the closest tree as the familiar white rings washed over my body, transforming me. I flew up into the air, searching for the source of that roar.

It found me before I found it.

The ghost appeared above me, aiming hoof-like feet at my head in a dive. I flew back at the last second and it stopped just where I had been. It looked like it was standing on the air. My mouth hung open for a long second as I took in the sight of the thing before me. It definitely wasn't like any ghost I fought in Amity Park. Its upper-body was the most human-like, but was huge, muscular, and its skin was blue. The hands ended in large talons. The legs were kind of like a goat's. Again with blue skin. But what weirded me out more was the large hole in its chest and the odd bird-like mask that covered its face.

The thing was a monster more than a ghost. But, I couldn't back down now that I was there.

Ecto-energy charged on both hands and I charged the ghost, aiming the strengthened punches at that strange mask. It blocked one punch with an arm, but I was faster with the other hand so it landed a hit on the thing and it reeled back a few steps. I couldn't help the smile forming. "That all you got, gruesome?" I taunted.

It quickly regained its footing and charged me with speed I didn't think it could have. It slammed its hand on my chest and threw me down. The ground rushed up to meet me and a large dent in the concrete formed from the impact. The air was forced from my body and I coughed with the effort to regain my breath. I got to my hands and knees and wiped my mouth, seeing my green ectoplasmic blood soaking the torn glove of my jumpsuit. I was sure from how hard it was to move that I had plenty of other injuries, too.

Ignoring the ache of my body, I flew up, arms raised to give that ghost a good punch in the gut. It caught me, but I went intangible and phased through its hands. It lashed its claws at me and I ducked under the sweep of the arm. It made to grab me again, but there was no chance it'd catch me off guard again and I raised a shield around me. It pounded against the shield until I couldn't hold it any longer and it shattered. I was knocked back a bit from the force of that final blow. As I flew back, I sent a few ecto-blasts at it. A few of them hit their mark. One went through the thing's hole and another barely missed the mask.

Then it said something. Yeah. This inhuman looking ghost spoke in the local language. With no visible lips. The mask had opened at the mouth, so I saw there was only a tongue back there. It screamed, "Tabetaiyo!". It moved so fast I could barely see it and snapped its teeth at me. I just barely dodged that thing's mouth and shot an ecto-beam at its face. It hit and gave me time to get some distance between us.

I managed to sneak a look down at Vlad at that moment. He wasn't even paying attention to what was going on. Well, it didn't look like he was. Just for kicks, I sent an ecto-beam from my fingertip at his feet. He jumped back before it landed and scowled up at me. I grinned from ear to ear. I was so dead when this was done. It was worth it.

I turned my focus back to the bizarre ghost. It was recovering from the blast and I really wished that I had a thermos on hand. Before the ghost could fully recover, my ghost sense went off twice. I groaned and readied myself for an even harder fight.

I didn't expect the two who arrived at my side. They both wore black kimonos that made me think of samurai without the armor. The smaller one was on my left and turned her head to give me a gentle smile. Her eyes were violet. Her hand casually gripped the hilt of her sheathed sword. The guy was much taller, had orange-hair, and held this large…blade-thing in his hand. He looked down at me, and told me something in Japanese. "Um, I don't understand what you're saying," I said, holding one of the injuries on my arms and trying not to look nearly useless. "But if you're saying you're on my side, that'd be awesome." The ghost guy looked at me like I had two heads. He then said something to the ghost girl who nodded and shouted a response. A second later, he rushed at the first ghost.

I wanted to go join him. Having a battle partner was pretty rare. I was about to jump in when the girl held me back, an arm stretched out before me. She said something to me while shaking her head. I could only assume it meant not to get in the way or something. "Fine," I said, "I'll stay put. But I have been fighting ghosts for a while, you know."

I expected her to not understand me. I didn't think she did, but she gave me a weird look. It was like she was trying to measure me up, or something. Because that weirded me out, I decided to watch the ghost fight. Surprisingly, it was over in a few seconds. Orange-haired guy dodged a couple of attacks before slicing down with his weapon. It went straight through the mask and halfway through the body. The ghost let out one final horrifying roar before disintegrating.

Did that guy just kill another ghost?

I gaped at the ghost guy, even as he came back to where he arrived. My eyes must have been as big as dinner plates the way I was staring at him. I looked down at Vlad, but couldn't see him anywhere. He might be invisible, watching from somewhere. I wanted to punch him so bad.

The two ghosts started talking, looking and pointing at me. They were probably talking about me like I wasn't even there. I decided to take this as a hint to probably get out of there before they decided to kill me, too. I made myself invisible. They reacted by looking wildly for me a bit. I lowered myself to the ground, back to the tree and returned to my human form.

I stared up at the two ghosts, hoping they didn't realize where I went. Sure, they helped me that time, but they might think I was like that ghost and split me in half. No way was I going to fully die yet. They stood there for a few more seconds before disappearing themselves. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. I took a step forward and winced. Oh right, I was still injured.

"Did you learn anything, little badger?" asked Vlad from behind me. I jumped in my skin and turned around, glaring.

"Don't do that, you fruit loop!" I cried. He raised an eyebrow and looked at my multitude of injuries. I covered a few on one arm, keeping my glare up for his benefit. "What was that thing anyway? I never fought anything like it before. Why didn't _anyone_ react to that howl? And who were those guys and what did they do to that ghost?"

"What you have noticed is only part of the reason I have taken an interest in this area." He started walking again, expecting me to follow, I guess. Did he _not_ notice I was covered in cuts and bruises? Okay, yeah, they'd heal before long, but still. He was also probably pretty mad about that ecto-blast I sent him. Still worth it.

So no, he didn't stop and wait for most of the cuts heal. I followed after him because I didn't know where I was. Not really. I should have paid more attention, right? No wonder I was a C student.

Vlad did eventually stop walking. I ran into him and stumbled back a few steps. "Hey," I yelled, "why'd you stop?"

The older hybrid glanced down at me with a look of mild interest. "Daniel, this is a clinic," he gestured to the overhead sign that I couldn't read. I had to trust his word.

Then my heart nearly stopped when I realized what he was doing. "But…clinics have doctors," I said. I was sure the doctor would find something wrong with me. My core temperature is far too low to be normal. My wounds might heal up in front of them. I had a sudden image of me strapped to some table with people about to cut me open. I shuddered involuntarily.

"I've done my research," Vlad explained. "This man is very good at confidentiality. You'll be safe here, I promise."

"What do I tell my parents when they see me all banged up?" I asked. I really wanted to just be back in the hotel and let these things heal on their own.

"I don't know, Daniel," scoffed Vlad. "Whatever you usually tell them after a night fighting a particularly nasty ghost, will do." He opened the door and gestured for me to enter. I didn't think I had much of a choice. And maybe there was another reason why he wanted this particular clinic.

I walked into the small waiting room, Vlad right behind me. I didn't know what to do, so I just let Vlad do everything. He spoke to someone about me being injured, I guess. I think it was a little girl. She was probably the daughter of the doctor or something. She practically ran off when she saw me, calling for someone. Her father?

A second later, a man rushed into the room. He wore a white lab coat, so that made him the doctor. He looked between me and Vlad before deciding I was the patient. He knelt down to my level and I got a good look at his eyes. They burned with a passion of the likes I only saw in battle. He asked me something, not that I understood. Geez, how many times in this trip am I going to feel like an idiot?

Vlad came to my rescue—heh, hilarious—and translated the man's questions for me. "What's your name?"

"Danny," I answered.

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen," my answers now were also translated by Vlad for the doctor's benefit.

"Where are your parents?"

"Um, out sight-seeing," I have no idea if that was what Vlad said.

"What happened before you came here?"

I paused for a minute, thinking up my excuse. I'm a terrible liar, even though I've gotten enough practice with the whole 'explaining my injuries to my parents.' "I fell off the bike I was renting," I finally came up with. The doctor, after hearing my excuse, knitted his brows and stared at me. I took too long with that explanation. I knew it and he knew it. I squirmed a little.

The doctor sighed and said something to the fruit loop while taking me to one of the rooms. Vlad followed after us and they spoke quietly to one another. Vlad told me later that it was a few more questions and answers. I was still pretty nervous about the whole thing. My injuries might be mostly healed by the time he got a good look at them.

"Relax, Daniel," said Vlad, "Doctor Kurosaki promised me his full discretion in this affair."

"What'd you bribe him with?" I asked, skeptical that he did anything without flashing his money around to get what he wanted.

"Nothing at all, son," he rested a hand on my shoulder right before we entered the room. I fought the urge to shake him off right then and there. "I told you I've done my research."

The girl from the front was in the room. She had bandages and such all ready for me. Vlad told me to take off my shirt. I couldn't really refuse now that we were there. Then I sat on the bed shirtless. Both Dr. Kurosaki and Vlad stared at my chest. The little girl nearly dropped her tray in shock. The two natives seemed to recognize what they saw. Vlad's face was a perfect mask.

I looked down and saw a dark purple mass in the shape of the hand that ghost from earlier. Was that it's power? Could it mark its opponents or something? "What in the world?" I asked, I put a hand to the mark. As soon as I touched it pain flared through my body and I cried out. It didn't even show any sign of healing yet. Definitely different from anything in Amity Park.

Dr. Kurosaki said something with a tone of wonderment. His hand hovered over the mark, a frown defining his bearded face. I looked to Vlad, worry eating my face. He shrugged as he examined my chest as well. The two adults started conversing again. I saw some of the cuts on my hands close completely. Well, the doc was more distracted by the hand print to notice that, at least.

After a long moment, Dr. Kurosaki motioned to his daughter to hand him a bandage. He started wrapping my torso, which covered most of the other cuts that were still open, too. So there was that. Then he took a look at my head, which I didn't even realize had been bleeding. I guess there was a pretty nasty gash back there. He had Vlad help me understand him while he went through checking for a concussion. Then he cleaned the wound and wrapped that up. Thankfully, he didn't check my temperature.

Dr. Kurosaki, once I was all bandaged, stood up dramatically, pointed to the ceiling and shouted something in triumph. The girl joined him while Vlad and I stared at them, baffled. The doctor rested a heavy hand on my shoulder, pushed me to the bed and started walking off, shouting orders or something the entire time. I started to get up when Vlad said, "Stay still, Daniel."

"Why? We got me all wrapped up. I want to get back to the hotel before mom and dad," I said, making another attempt to sit up. This time he pushed me down and glared at me until I stopped squirming.

"Doctor Kurosaski thinks it would be better if you stayed the night," explained Vlad. "I'm inclined to agree with him."

"I've had worse than this before," I protested. "You've given me worse than this."

Vlad rubbed two fingers on the bridge of his nose. "Daniel, listen to Doctor Kurosaki and stay the night. If it makes you feel any better, I'll tell your mother and Jasmine"—Surprise, surprise, no mention of dad—"that you're sleeping in your room and won't come out until mid-morning tomorrow."

I rolled my eyes and consented. Even though I had an ugly feeling that he was using me for something, I figured it'd better if I listened. But, the way I saw it, I do what he says, or he has a ghost attack my family while I'm too far away to do something. Once we were back in the States, I was going beat him within an inch of his life.

Vlad gave me his smirk before leaving me alone. In a Japanese clinic where no one, as far as I knew, spoke English. My life was perfect.

The sun was still high in the sky and I wondered if I really had to stay the night. Not that I could get any confirmation on that. Vlad probably paid Dr. Kurosaki to make me stay put. I could always fly out if I wanted, right? Then Vlad would hear about my little escape and do something crazy. If I stuck with my family, I might be able to keep them safe…

But, I had no idea where anything was in this city. Therefore, my parents and Jazz were as good unreachable. Groaning, I put my arms behind my head and watched the window. It had a view of the street right beside the clinic and I ended up watching the traffic. After a while, teens wearing the same uniform started walking by. I sat up to watch them. A group of friends closed in on the clinic and I suddenly missed Sam and Tucker all over again.

I wondered what they were doing for their summer vacation. Sam mentioned something about a Goth Con. There was some really big electronic convention Tucker kept blathering on about in the last weeks of school. I wondered if he was on his way there.

That group walked closer and I found myself staring at one of them. He had orange hair and looked just like the ghost that killed the other one. He was in a uniform like the other kids and was holding a bag much like theirs. I immediately looked for the girl and almost didn't see her behind the tall, darker-skinned guy beside Orange-head. My eyes widened as they passed by. My ghost sense went off when they were right by the window, too. I knew for certain that it was those two that saved me earlier.

I laid back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. It couldn't be possible, right? There couldn't be other hybrids out there. How would they have gotten their powers, anyway?

This was something to look into. I decided to go ghost and follow the orange-haired teen. Maybe he wouldn't notice me. At the moment I brought out the white rings, I heard a door slam and some shouting from the house attached to the clinic. One of the voices belonged to that orange-haired teen. The rings fizzled out and I remained human.

I had a huge feeling the teen was the reason Vlad had me stay put. He did his research, indeed. I listened for anymore noise from the home. The family seemed to have fallen quiet after a few minutes worth of shouting. Maybe I should go ghost and see what's going on. I was curious, but I didn't know a lick of Japanese. This sucked! How did Vlad expect me to learn anything for him? And why couldn't he have injured himself to do this? He obviously knows the language.

"Stupid fruit loop!" I yelled at the ceiling. There were a few startled outbursts from the house. That must have been louder than it should have been. Oops. There weren't any approaching footsteps, so I figured I was fine for now. Still, I was itching to learn more about them. Maybe just their names.

Well, it would be something, right? I changed into Phantom, turned invisible and phased through the walls to the house. There didn't seem to be anyone on the first floor so I phased through the ceiling. A hallway. I poked my head through a door with a small sign with "15" on it. Jackpot. The ghost guy and girl were in the room. They seemed to be in their own worlds and didn't even seem to notice me. Perfect. I floated to an empty corner and sat down, remaining unseen.

Let's try and figure out something about these two, shall we?

**A/N: **Before anyone accuses me of being a weaboo, I'm seriously studying the language. I used the romanization for simplicity. I hope I haven't mangled it, to be honest.

For anyone who's wondering, Vlad used the volitional form, which is (according to my textbook and teacher) a very casual way of suggesting something. He also wanted to show off. And he translated it, pretty much, right afterward for Danny and the readers. The hollow screamed: "tabetaiyo!" Read as: "I want to eat you!" Google translate would probably tell you "I want to eat." But, it was directed at Danny and the hollow didn't feel the need to specify what he wanted to eat, so…yeah.

Thoughts, suggestions, questions? All are welcome. This is my first cross-over, you know. Help needed/wanted.


	2. Ghost Kid Dilemma

**A/N:** Well, here you go. Second chapter. I hope the bleach cast is in character.

It's been brought to my attention twice now, so to clear the timeline issue up now:

This is set during the Arrancar Invasion in Bleach. Ichigo's fought Grimmjow for the first time but hasn't gone to the Vizards yet. Why? I like Hichigo and would very much like to write him a few times in this fic.

It is between "Reality Trip" and "Double Cross my Heart" for Danny Phantom. Reasoning: RT had them go on summer vacation and DCMH had them back in school, possibly a few weeks into the new academic year. We have all that time up for grabs. I'm going to ignore the usual first day of the academic year to make this fit the Bleach timeline while having Danny and Jazz still on vacation for at least another week from the start of the story.

Also note the italic words found within quotation marks. These are English according to a Japanese person who has a _very_ limited vocabulary. There will be some intentional spelling errors to showcase this limitation. Have fun. I know I did.

Any other italics are either for emphasis or for Hichigo.

**Disclaimer**: I own neither Bleach nor Danny Phantom. So please, don't sue me.

* * *

><p><span>Culture Shock<span>

By MidnightResWri

* * *

><p>Ichigo's POV<p>

* * *

><p><span>Chapter Two: Ghost Kid Dilemma<span>

My textbooks sat open on my desk. Rukia sat on my bed, doing something on her phone. Most likely, she was texting her report to Soul Society. I didn't know. Kon kept trying to get a hug from her. We both ignored him. I wanted to concentrate on my homework this time. The number of hollows have been down recently, so free time to work on school actually existed. My grades were beginning to slip as it was. Though no matter how much I tried to concentrate on the math, I kept thinking back to that hollow attack from earlier.

Placing the pencil against my lip, I narrowed my eyes. Something was really weird about that kid. He didn't look like any human spirit I've met before. There was no broken chain of fate saying he was a Plus. No hollow hole or mask. No zanpakutō so he wasn't a Shinigami. I scratched a few numbers down on the paper as I thought about that kid.

White hair. Not that strange. Neon green eyes? I've seen worse. Rukia's eyes are violet and Tōshirō has turquoise eyes. It was probably the feel of him. Neither human, hollow, or Shinigami.

"Ichigo," said Rukia.

I leaned back in my chair, draping an arm over the back to look at her. "What is it?"

"I finished my report to Soul Society," she closed the cell phone and closed her eyes. "We might get an opinion of that spirit soon." She rested her chin on her hand, looking at a corner in my room. "His reiatsu…I've never felt anything like that before."

I stared at my homework, "Yeah. And he was fighting against that hollow before we showed up, too." I didn't move for a moment before I leaned over on my desk. I was a little curious about those attacks the kid sent at the hollow, too. The closest thing I knew of was cero, but that wasn't it at all. What was his ability?

I glanced at Rukia who said, "I sensed a second presence like that boy's not too far from that attack."

I nodded. I felt it, too. "The kid didn't get too far," I said. "How'd he disappear like that?"

"I don't know," said Rukia. Kon looked at the two of us, confused. "But I can still feel him nearby."

"You think the kid followed us?" I nearly laughed, but she was right. His reiatsu, though faint, was still very close by. Dad said he had a patient staying the night. He was worried about the possibility of a concussion or something. I doubted that the kid would go to a clinic if he was seriously injured and definitely not if he was a spirit. If he was living, dad would have insisted he go to the hospital if the injuries were too much to handle here. "Why would he? He doesn't understand Japanese. So what would he gain?"

Rukia narrowed her eyes. It didn't look like she knew. Couldn't blame her, though. That kid was pretty weird. And he could disappear completely. My grip on my pencil tightened. I didn't like being kept in the dark about things. I turned back to my homework.

Silence fell between us. Well, except for Kon. He bugged Rukia about what we were talking about. She told him to shut up a few times, but knowing him, he'd ask until he finally got what he wanted. I tuned out her explanation, scratching out answers to the problems. After a while, she fell silent, going back to messing with her phone. I finished the homework and put my stuff back in my bag. "So what are we going to do?"

An alarm sounded off on the phone before I could get a response. I nearly jumped out of my skin. "What the hell?" I demanded, glaring at the offending device.

"Relax, you fool," the Shinigami opened the phone, scanning the message. "Soul Society has deemed the boy a person of interest. We are not to attack him unless he attacks us. We are to try and perform a Soul Burial if we get the chance. The results of the Soul Burial are to be reported immediately after."

I snorted. It seemed like the obvious thing to try to do right now. But if we ever saw that kid again, it'd be too soon. I noticed Rukia's eyes slide back to the corner of my room. Her eyes narrowed in concentration. "What are you—" she held up a hand to shut me up. I was about to say something more, but she stood up, walking over to the corner.

Kon stared at her from the bed. He was being surprisingly quiet about all of his. He didn't even have a "nee-san" come out of his mouth. We watched her kick at something and yell, "Stop hiding you miserable excuse for a soul."

I stared at her, thoughts briefly frozen. "Rukia…" My voice trailed off, unable to form a coherent sentence. I opened my mouth again when she kicked the air again.

This time I heard a grunt coming from the corner and then that kid from earlier became visible. I twisted out of my seat and stood up. "What the—? How the fuck did he get in here?" I shouted. Really, I'm glad my family got used to my random outbursts. It came in handy for times like this. I pointed a finger at the kid. His reiatsu felt stronger now that he was visible. How the hell was that possible?

The kid's eyes darted between the two of us, obviously frightened from being discovered. Rukia was smiling in triumph and Kon immediately jumped at the sight of the spirit. "Where did he come from?" cried the lion plush, jumping from my bed and heading towards the spirit kid.

It seemed even foreign spirits knew Kon was annoying. The kid buried a gloved hand into the doll's face. Kon fell back onto the floor only to immediately pop back up. That seemed to surprise the white-haired kid because he shot one of those odd green colored attacks at the doll, pushing him across the room.

"_Uh…Hello._" He said. There was a nervous shake in his voice. I forgot my shock and sobered my expression. I knew enough of the English language to tell me he was greeting us.

"_Hi_," I said. His eyes shot towards me, as if expecting me to do something to him. I raised my hands, showing him I wasn't armed. "_I'm _Ichigo." I pointed.

Rukia, still smirking, pointed to herself, "Kuchiki Rukia."

The kid looked lost when he heard Rukia's name. Not surprising. Kid was probably from America or England. He was most likely trying to figure out which name was her first name. "Rukia," I provided for him. I pointed to the little Shinigami and repeated it. The kid looked at me with gratitude in his eyes. He knew our names now, at least. That could be useful.

"_I'm Danny."_ The kid, Danny, pointed to himself. So now he was named, too. He looked back at the plushy he had thrown across the room with his power. Kon brushed himself off, looking pissed. The kid was probably going to get a kick in the face by the doll. It wouldn't faze him, but still annoying. And, to Danny's surprise, Kon went for the kick.

To our surprise, he didn't do anything about it. He _became_ transparent and Kon _flew _through the kid's head. I was impressed. I wondered how he did that. I knew spiritual beings could phase through solid objects if they wanted, it was how Rukia and I first met. But Kon was a spiritual entity—even as a doll. Spirits couldn't avoid other spirits. So this kid was something very different.

Danny stared at Kon, eyes wide. "_What kind of dolu is this?" _He asked, picking up the now struggling doll and poked it's nose a few times. Kon managed to bite the gloved finger, but the kid only smiled. I knew from experience it would never hurt. He continued looking Kon over, probably looking for the reason he was able to talk and move around. He was talking to himself and I only caught a few words here and there. Rukia, I knew, wouldn't have the slightest clue about what he said. She'd had enough trouble with modern Japanese.

I didn't know how to exactly answer his first question and instead turned to Rukia. "What do we do with him?" Kon and Danny seemed to be having a mock battle. It was completely one-sided in Danny's favor. "Should we try the Soul Burial?"

She nodded and reached into a pocket to pull out her Soul Candy. "I'll do it. If needed, I'll use a binding to keep him still." She popped the pill in her mouth and forced her soul out of the gigai. Chappy smiled at me and I backed away. I wasn't going to get caught by that psychopathic bunny again. Chappy was worse than Grimmjow to be honest. It was clear that he wanted to kill me. Chappy…I didn't know what its problem was.

Danny immediately stopped messing with Kon once Rukia left the gigai. His face fell and he paled more than he already was. She drew her sword, "Please don't move," she said and brought the hilt down.

I could have told her that wouldn't work. The kid probably thought she told him to go die. He dodged the hilt and rolled toward the bed. He finished his roll through the bed and floated in the air. He looked frantically between the now three of us. He stayed there for a long moment, which was enough time for Rukia to perform the first binding on him. He let out a startled cry, his arms forced behind his back and he fell to the floor in a loud thump. If anyone came in the room, they'd probably see me staring at a place in my room with Rukia looking far too happy than she normally acts. Wouldn't be the first time.

Danny struggled against the binding spell, much like I had a few months ago. Unlike mine, his seemed to be unsuccessful. He rolled onto his side and stared up at Rukia, who again tried to calm him down. He looked like he was close to a panic attack. I felt sorry for the kid. Rukia, however, looked like she was having none of it. She bent down, the hilt inching toward the young kid's forehead.

She tapped his forehead and left a blueish symbol in its place. We waited for something to happen. Danny tried to see what was on his face and then, apparently giving up, looked at Rukia with confusion before his eyes squeezed shut. He grimaced, really. He wasn't fading away off to Soul Society. Instead, what parts of his body he could still move folded in, pulling him into a smaller shape. He let out short grunts as if trying to hold back a scream. I knelt at his side, about to shake him and ask him what was wrong.

As soon as my hand touched his shoulder, two white rings appeared at his waist. They passed through my arm and I shivered from the cold they seemed to be made of. They washed over the kid and his appearance changed with it. No weird black and silver suit anymore. Just jeans and a t-shirt. His hair and eyes inverted to black and blue. "_No,_" he muttered. "_Nononononono. Why? What did you do to me?_"

The voice was the same, though it lost that strange echo. This new appearance had the same strange reiatsu, though it felt so much weaker than it had been. And the kid looked terrified. I put a hand on Rukia's shoulder and pulled her away from the kid. I pointed to him and asked for his name. He tried to squirm away, managing to hit his head on my desk. But he told us that he was Danny. He breathed, which was something he hadn't done in that other form. I shot a glance at Rukia, who had put her zanpakuto away. "What do we do now? He looks human."

She studied Danny. "I don't know. I have to report this to Soul Society, in any case." She shook her head and held out a hand for Chappy to hand her the phone. Rukia started typing in a new report.

I stared at the kid. After a moment, I walked up to him, tried to give him a disarming smile to calm him down, crouched down to his level, and poked his forehead. "_You are okay_?" I asked him. He didn't answer. He was probably trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Can you take the spell off him?" I asked over my shoulder.

Rukia nodded absently. "It'll wear off soon."

I reached for the kid's neck, going to look for a pulse. I wanted to know if that breathing was an act or not. He jerked a way and I hesitated a bit before placing two fingers over his vein. It took me a couple seconds to find it, but there was the tell-tale sign of a heartbeat. "He's alive," I told her. "I think."

Danny confused me. He wasn't anything we've met up 'til now. But he still looked on the verge of a panic attack and _that _would get someone's attention. I helped the kid stand up and led him to my bed. He seemed to be getting over the initial shock of Rukia trying to perform a Soul Burial on him. His shoulders relaxed and he found he could move his arms again. He stared at his hands. He said, "_I hopu my gousto paowas still work." _I didn't know what that meant. We hadn't touched on whatever language point he was using in class yet and some of his words were just plain gibberish. I rubbed the bridge of my nose in frustration. This would be a long night if we didn't do something about this language barrier.

"_Yes!_" A sudden cry jumped me out of my frustration. I looked at Danny, who held his arms up, but his hands were gone.

I stared at the boy's grinning face. He stared at the place where his hands should have been just about ready to burst into laughter. It was kind of creepy. Then his hands blinked back into existence. I figured out what he was checking. His powers. They must be tied to that other form somehow.

Rukia went back into her gigai, which earned Danny's curiosity. He asked a question and then rubbed the back of his neck. He must have realized he wouldn't be getting an answer.

I heard dad's door open down the hall. Probably going to check on his patient again. If my thoughts were right, the kid right next to me should have been in the clinic, sleeping or something. I imagined my dad's reaction to the empty bed. I felt my face fall at the mental image of him screaming at the top of his lungs at having lost another patient. That would wake up the neighborhood. I stood up so I could head him off.

Danny's eyes were on my back. Maybe he thought I was the safe one since I didn't come at him with a sword. If only he knew I could barely hold back that thing in me. Thinking about _it _drew a snicker from the back of my mind. Not tonight, I thought. Go away.

I opened the door just as dad was walking by. "Hey," I said, stopping him in his tracks. "You're going to see that patient right?"

"Yeah," he looked me, trying to see past my shoulder and into my room. "Is Rukia still in there with you?" His face broke out into a childish grin when I nodded. "My boy's all grown up!" He threw open my door and launched himself at me, arms wide open. I smirked. Too easy. I simply stepped out of the way, letting him stumble into my room. Dad managed to catch himself before he fell on his face. That was a first.

I noticed his demeanor changed instantly when he saw who was in my room. Danny had stiffened when dad approached him, rubbing his chin in thought. "Son, did you sneak him out?"

A blank stare was my answer. He got the hint I wasn't the culprit. Dad looked over at Rukia, whose sweet act was in full force. "Do you have something to do with this?"

"Oh," she giggled softly, "I heard there was a young boy in the clinic. I couldn't help my curiosity and brought him into the house. Please don't be too harsh on me." She flashed him a smile and I swear there would have been sparkles coming off her face if they could.

Dad melted and swept Rukia into one of his hugs. Tears freely flowed from his eyes as he said, "I understand completely, Rukia. I only wish you would have told me you wanted to see him. I would have brought him to dinner."

I still can't believe he falls for her obvious lies.

"I'm so glad you're not mad at me," Rukia said, pumping as much emotion into that phrase as she could. I chanced at glance at Danny. His face was buried in his hands and his body was shaking. I inched over to him and heard muffled snickers.

Dad, however, insisted on checking on the patient. He wanted to see how his injuries were healing. He told Danny to take off his shirt. Of course, the kid didn't know what dad was trying to say. Even through the English dad mangled, Danny didn't understand. _I _didn't understand what the hell he was saying. When dad tried to force the shirt off, the kid tried pushing him away, saying something that was probably along the lines of, "I get it, so quit touching me."

Danny was a scrawny kid, so I was impressed that he managed to kick dad away from him. I figured it was because of that other appearance. He seemed to be able to access those powers in either one, somehow. He took off his shirt, his torso heavily bandaged. Dad, apparently, carried scissors on him because he pulled out a pair and started snipping the bandages away.

I saw Rukia tense up when his chest was revealed. I did, too. I'd only seen something like that twice before back when I first started as a Substitute Shinigami. Danny's chest held the burned imprint of a hand. The hollow must have grabbed him while they were fighting. Still, the fact that he was burned even though he was in his other form worried me. Dad's face was in a frown. I had a feeling he recognized the acidic touch of a hollow. He wouldn't know where it came from, but I figured he'd seen it before from how he worked around it.

"Your other wounds healed up nicely," muttered dad. "Now you just need to take it easy for this thing to heal." Danny nodded as if he understood. Dad whipped out a few rolls of bandages from god knows where and started wrapping up the kid. Danny looked at his chest, hissing whenever he poked it. Dad swatted his hand away after he tried it on the open burn and gave him a stern warning. Danny looked confused as to why the burn didn't look like it started to heal.

Then dad left the room, leaving us to our own devices. It really didn't surprise me that he decided to let Danny stay in the room. "Ichigo," said Dad before closing the door behind him.

"Yeah?"

"Make sure he doesn't stress himself too much," his face was sober. "He needs to let that heal."

"Yeah, I'll get right on that," I rolled my eyes. "I can't babysit him all day, you know."

"Just watch out for him, okay?" I nodded. I couldn't exactly refuse my dad on this. He shut the door and left us alone.

I turned back to Danny and Rukia. Kon was back to his antics with the kid, but at least he was smiling. He seemed happy to oblige the mod soul. Maybe we could get him back around here more often. It would definitely keep things marginally more quiet in my room.

The alarm sound went off again and Rukia opened her phone, reading the order from Soul Society. "We are to observe the boy and discover what he is. If he proves to be a threat to Soul Society, we are to eliminate him. We are to learn what his purpose is here. And, if possible, bring him to Soul Society to meet the Thirteen Court Guard Captains."

I looked at Danny, who really didn't know what was going on. His face had paled, though. Probably from Rukia's tone. She always made her voice sound so official when reading those orders. I sighed and rubbed the back of my head. Danny had been brought to their attention within the last hour and already he was making trouble. I shook my head, "This is going to be a long night."

I didn't know what do with him. He sat on my bed, most likely expecting a sword to come out and slice him in half. I would have tried to tell him he was going to be fine and not to worry, but then a familiar reiastu crashed into the room. It wasn't from anyone I knew personally and was weaker than Grimmjow, but stronger than that guy Rukia dealt with. Definitely an Arrancar.

Danny stiffened in his seat when a blue mist left his lips. I wondered if he felt it, too. My question was answered when he brought out those rings and changed into that other form. I forced myself to ignore the sudden drop in temperature in the room. I grabbed my badge and left my body at the same time Rukia left her gigai. We shared a look before she pushed me to try to explain to Danny what he was preparing to go after.

Too bad he had already left the room.

I jumped out of my room, heading into the open sky to see Danny flying off in the direction of the Arrancar. He was moving pretty fast. I decided to shunpo after him, using the increased speed to catch up to him. "_What you doing?"_ I yelled at him, about to punch him while I matched my speed to his.

"_I'm gonna faito that gousto!" _He yelled back, his voice regaining that eerie echo.

"_That is _Arrancar_! You will not live!"_ I would have liked to have told him that the Arrancar was too powerful for him. That hollow from earlier was nothing compared to the power of what he would be facing. To prove my point that Danny didn't know what he was going to be facing, he looked at me with a smirk on his lips.

"_Don't worry,_" he said, and increased his speed.

I swore and followed after him. With a spare thought, I checked for Rukia. She was following us, but would take a couple seconds longer to arrive.

Danny beat me to the Arrancar, but only just. I stopped beside him and took hold of Zangetsu. I aimed the tip at the hollow, frowning. The only visible eye was red like his cropped hair. The remains of his mask covered his forehead and one eye. He wore white, like all the others I'd seen so far, but he hardly had any skin showing. Wherever his hole was, he had it covered. The Arrancar smirked, resting an idle hand on his blade's hilt, "If it isn't the young human come out to play Shinigami."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "It seems all you bastards know who I am." I used shunpo once to close the distance, raising Zangetsu over my head. I wanted to finish this one quickly. He raised an arm, blocking me with just that one movement. I kept forcing my blade down, putting pressure on his defense. "Care to tell me who the hell you are?"

The hollow's one eye regarded me with a dull interest. "Arrancar numero veintinueve." He placed a foot at my stomach and kicked me away. "Alvarro Xio."

He was a lower number than Grimmjow. Rukia could probably have taken this guy on her own. That thought made me look around for a moment. She hadn't arrived yet. That couldn't be good. The Arrancar took my pause as an opening and attacked me, not even bothering to take out his sword. But his focus was all on me, ignoring completely the little anomaly that arrived first.

Alvarro's attacks were calculated. My sword picked up on his meticulous attention to the amount of power he put into each punch. He used the minimum necessary to inflict damage, that much was certain. I wasn't going to let him land a hit on me, though. I evaded, blocked, and made some attacks of my own. He seemed to know exactly how to defend against me with just my Shikai.

He didn't expect Danny's weird ray thing to hit him in the side. Alvarro grunted in pain and was thrown away from me a couple hundred meters. He slid to a stop and held a hand to his side. That ray was actually powerful enough to singe the guy's clothes and leave a nasty burn. That was unexpected.

The red-haired hollow's eye found Danny. His frown deepened. In response, Danny fired a few more of those rays. Alvarro seemed to expect those, using his Sonido to evade the attacks and close the distance between himself and the kid. I knew he'd be in danger if he actually had to face this guy. I placed myself in his path, blocking him and throwing a getsuga tenshou in his direction to drive him back. Danny said something I didn't quite catch and I honestly didn't care. Dad told me to watch this kid and damn it all if I allow myself to see him get hurt.

Danny flew through me. That was a new experience that I'd rather never have again. It was probably what that one Arrancar felt when Rukia froze him solid. I could only manage a strangled sound before the sensation had been replaced with the usual feeling of my spiritual body. I was still too stunned to stop Danny from racing toward Alvarro.

Their small fight was a lot different than it had been from mine. Danny seemed to be an expert at dodging quick attacks. He allowed a lot of the ones he didn't evade to pass through him. That was a useful power. A few times, the kid charged one of those rays, but didn't fire it. He used it, apparently, to augment his own strength. Alvarro appeared to have no trouble countering those attacks. He looked more put off by the random intangibility. Then, Alvarro backed away. He raised a hand, pointing his fingers towards Danny. A small sphere of red energy began to form at the point and I recognized it as a cero.

Danny, however, didn't know what it was and stared at the gathered energy. I wasn't gonna let that hollow release a full cero and charged at the Arrancar. He sensed my approach and widened his eye a fraction before prematurely releasing the cero at Danny. Danny raised a green square of something between himself and the blast, only to have whatever that thing was shatter upon impact. He screamed when the red energy engulfed him.

"Danny!" I yelled, instantly changing direction to just outside that torrent of energy. If he got injured some more, dad would kill me.

Unfortunately, before the cero faded, I was blindsided by Alvarro's leg kicking at my face. It met it's mark and slammed me away from Danny. "You filth of a creature," he snarled.

He glared at me and then reached a hand into the fading attack for a moment. When he brought it out, it dragged a struggling kid with it. Danny looked like hell. One of his sleeves had been burned away and green blood (what the fuck?) trailed down his arm. His suit was burned away in other places, but his arm was the worst. He was still on this plane of existence, though. So it wasn't all bad. But Alvarro was holding him by the neck. The kid was struggling, but acted like being held by the neck was nothing new to him. In fact, Danny was laughing about it and saying something I really couldn't catch.

Alvarro certainly didn't understand him. He tightened his grip, only for Danny to laugh again. The kid phased through the Arrancar's hand, firing another weird ray at him. It hit. Danny floated over to me, wiping away a trickle of that strange blood of his. "_Your turn,_" he said, a grin forming on his lips as he gestured to the Arrancar.

Alvarro launched himself at Danny, yelling a wordless cry. He even drew his sword to attack. A grin tugged at my mouth.

Finally.

I placed myself between the two of them, cutting the hollow off. I caught his blade on mine. The clash of steel sounded good. Something instinctual told me to use bankai and finish the fight with a single getsuga tenshou. I wanted to give into those quiet whisperings. It would be so easy.

"Out of my way substitute," he snarled. He pushed his blade down further. "That creature will die."

"You want the kid?" I asked him, wearing a feral smile. I let him push down. Let him think he had the upper hand. "You'll have to learn his little trick, then."

I kicked him off and sent a slash toward his abdomen as soon as the pressure lifted off my sword. He growled and sent a swipe at my head with his hand. I ducked and made a thrust toward him. I got his shoulder. He managed to kick me in the jaw. I sliced through his leg. He landed a blow on my knee. That one hurt.

The voice whispered to use my bankai. I was itching to use it, anyway. But I knew that if I did, _it_ would only get stronger. I fought back the urge to go the extra step. _It_ would take over and would probably hurt someone innocent before I regained control. Best to stay as I was.

_Oi, King…_That voice drifted in from the back of my mind. I didn't need to deal with that now. Not while I was fighting an Arrancar. And where the hell was Rukia? Or any of the other advanced forces, for that matter? _Let me out._

Alvarro's sword cut my cheek, barely a centimeter under my eye. Lucky me, it wasn't a deep cut. I ignored the blood dripping down my face and lunged for the hollow. I swung my sword, catching his stomach. It beat his hierro, though. Must have been weaker than I initially thought. It took bankai and a black getsuga tenshou to even get a good blow on Grimmjow. My smile grew.

My offense continued pushing the Arrancar back. It was like he wasn't even trying. It felt too good slicing that piece of trash. It wasn't long until he kept his distance from me. He was bleeding more than I was. Danny yelled something at me, but I paid no attention to it. That piece of shit Arrancar was still breathing. I went for another attack, but was hit in the back by something sharp and painful. I thought it was a cero and Alvarro had somehow gotten behind me.

I changed direction, aiming for my attacker. Zangetsu was poised to take off the fucker's head. Another blast hit me in the chest, forcing the air from my lungs and stopping my advance. I blinked through the white spots dancing in my vision and coughed as my body regained it's breath. That couldn't have been a cero. It was too fast after the first blast. And too small, my rational mind told me.

With my vision cleared, I saw Danny glaring at me. "_What is wrong?"_ I asked him. Anger for being interrupted coursed through my veins.

"_You're keellingu that guy!"_ He yelled, pointing to the bleeding form of the Arrancar.

I looked at the redhead and frowned. I didn't remember giving him every single one of the wounds. But he would survive. Besides, he'd probably be purified and sent off to Soul Society. I didn't see the problem in that. Apparently, Danny did. "_Hollow,"_ I said, as if that was the answer to everything.

He just stared at me with his eyes narrowed. His eyes glowed that neon color and balled his hands into fists. I guessed that 'hollow' wasn't the answer he was looking for. I was trying to find the English words so I could try to explain when I felt Alvarro's spiritual pressure change. I looked over my shoulder, seeing the Arrancar open a path back to Hueco Mundo. I cursed and charged at him, "Come back, you bastard. Let's finish this!"

It closed right behind him and I slashed empty air. I felt steam come out of my ears. "Am I ever going to finish a fight with one of those bastards?" I growled, tightening my grip on Zangetsu. I would have won that battle!

"Quit complaining, Kurosaki," said the voice of the youngest captain.

"Oh, Tōshirō," I turned to look at the white-haired Shinigami. "When did you get here?"

The little guy crossed his arms and mumbled something about his name that I didn't quite catch. His eyes found Danny and he used shunpo to close the distance between the two of them. They looked to be about the same height, really. Tōshirō's hair made him taller, though. "Is this the one Kuchiki told me about?"

Ah, so that's where she'd been. I nodded. "His name's Danny."

Danny crossed his arms when he heard his name and said, "_I can talk._"

"He was fighting the Arrancar, yes?" asked Tōshirō.

"Yeah." I thought for a moment and added, "He seemed to be doing pretty good against him, but with the hollow from earlier, he was having trouble."

"Interesting. He's definitely not a normal soul, now that I've met him. Kuchiki informed me of his ability to change his appearance and strange fluctuations of reiatsu," said Tōshirō, turning away from Danny and looking at me. "He'll have to be under supervision if he fights another hollow of any class in the future. A Shinigami should be there to exorcise it."

I waved my hand, "Yeah, yeah, I know. We'll be sure to keep an eye on the kid."

"_I'm right here, you know,_" said an irritated Danny, not that we paid any attention to him at the moment. Rukia appeared next to him, though he didn't seem all that fazed by it. He didn't jump or shout or anything. Must come with the ability to turn invisible at will.

"Histugaya-taicho," said Rukia, "whenever possible, I will report to you on anything of importance about this child."

The little guy nodded, "Please do. I'd like this whole affair to be clean and without too much trouble." He frowned when he looked back at Danny. Tōshirō rubbed the bridge of his nose and muttered something about a headache before heading back to Inoue's house. It left the three of us alone above the quiet city. I was still pretty pissed that the Arrancar got away. I was hoping to actually finish a fight with one of those things.

On the plus side, there wasn't much property damage for Soul Society to deal with. I guess that's somewhat of a victory. Kind of a sucky one, if you ask me.

"We should get back to the house," I said after a moment. Rukia nodded and grabbed Danny's uninjured arm to drag him back. He had been telling me something that was far too fast for me to understand anything so I tuned it out. My instincts told me it was about that Arrancar. But his rant was forced to a stop when Rukia pulled him after her.

_Kid's scared of ya, King. Better not let 'im see me._ I narrowed my eyes at the voice of that thing. It's laughter sounded even closer than it had during the fight. Shit.

My eyes slid over to Danny again and his injured arm. The burns looked like they were already healing. That was another useful ability I've seen him have. But even so, dad was gonna kill me for letting Danny get another injury while he was still in dad's care. My head was starting to hurt.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Woo…that was fun. I decided to make an OC Arrancar who will be seen just a little bit after this. He wasn't too bad, was he? I didn't want to use an established Arrancar or Espada so I could avoid screwing with continuity more than I already have. Anyway, comments would be appreciated. Oh, and Ichigo got a little drunk on battle and was a _little_ bit under the influence of Hichigo while he fought Alvarro.


	3. Information on the Known

**A/N:** I bet you're all thinking: finally! Well, yeah, me too. This chapter's been a pain to write. And this was supposed to be done ages ago. Oh, and guys? I just want this to be a short fic. At least 7 chapters at most 10. I just want to establish some sort of base for any future cross-over fics I might have stemming from this. So. Yep.

Italics most often used for engrish.

EDIT: Fixed typos

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own either Bleach or Danny Phantom.

Culture Shock

By MidnightResWri

Danny's POV

Chapter Three: Information on the Known

I woke up in my hotel room. Not in the clinic, where I fell asleep, in the hotel room. I realized this about ten minutes after I woke up. My brain, then, processed the fact that I was surrounded by comfort and not stiff hospital bed. "What the…" my voice trailed off as I pushed myself and turned to sit. Eyes were still heavy and I rubbed the remnants of sleep out of them, along with a yawn. What in the world was I doing here?

At least the bandages on my hand were still there. Dr. Kurosaki yelled at Ichigo, I assumed, about letting me get in even worse shape. Not that I could understand it, but that was what I figured a doctor would yell at his son for. Rukia seemed to get off scott-free—again, from what I could tell. His demeanor changed so suddenly with her, that I had to do a double take. It was like that time I sort of went to Homecoming with Paulina. Her father was completely doting on her. I kinda wished Ichigo knew more English so I could've asked him about it. Maybe some bizarre form of favoritism for her?

My thoughts were interrupted by a certain someone saying, "Finally awake, Daniel?" Hearing his voice made me jump out of my skin. On instinct and annoyance, I shot an ecto-blast in his direction, but I was pretty sure he'd just evade it or phase through it or something. Unfortunately. "Tsk, tsk. That's going to be put on my bill," he chastised. "Be a bit more careful with your powers."

Vlad stepped away from where he was and became tangible again and cast a glance at the smoking section of the wall. I glared at him, willing my eyes to glow and he laughed it off. "Why am I not surprised you have something to do with this?" I grumbled, gesturing to the room.

He shook his head, "Oh, just moved you back to your proper place before you or your family woke up. Can't have the family getting suspicious, hm?"

I snapped, "Then don't leave me in a clinic where I can't speak the freaking language, _Vlad._"

He tsked and sat on the foot of the bed, keeping his eyes on me. Vlad continued talking as if I hadn't just shoved logic in his face. "But you are necessary, now that you've made contact with another anomaly, or maybe two more. How did you like that family, by the way?"

Shrugging, I answered with another question, "How should I know? Never left the bed." I glanced down at the bandaged hand, which was probably healed by now. The lie was pretty bad considering Dr. Kurosaki left my hands alone when Vlad left.

"Yes, and you didn't get burned by something nasty." He rolled his eyes and continued, "Don't lie to me, Daniel. You're far too poor at it to even make an attempt at fooling me. I've only been able to research the Kurosaki's on a more distant level. Records and such. I cannot approach them on a more personal level. Well, not the member of the family that's most intriguing."

My eyes narrowed. Of course he'd research that family. He's Vlad "Master Stalker" Masters. If he had any interest in you, you can bet your ass he's got cameras or something spying on you. Trust me, I found plenty of cameras around my own house. "Right. Whatever it is you want with that family," I began, sliding out of my bed and heading to the closet, "I'm not helping you get it."

Vlad jumped up from the bed, rushed me, and slammed me into the wall. His hand jammed itself at my throat, keeping my head back and blocking my airway. I tried to phase away, but he went intangible at the same time, keeping me still. "You forget your place," he hissed. His eyes seared holes into mine. Figuratively, I promise. "Your family can and will be killed with a single command if you don't do as I say. Do you understand?"

I struggled to breathe for a moment, just letting his words slide off me. No way was I going to help him screw with Ichigo. Just met him, but not even scary ghost-killer guy needs Vlad in his life. "Let. Go," I choked out. He didn't and pressed harder on my throat. This was getting nowhere fast and I could see dark rings at the edge of my vision. Shit. Passing out was not on my agenda for the day. Or ever.

"Do you understand me, boy?" his voice sounded more distant than it was. I knew what he wanted and I figured I wouldn't get to breathe again while conscious unless I gave it to him. So, I nodded. The pressure slowly lifted from my neck and I fell to my knees, rubbing my throat and coughing. He walked away from me as I recovered. "Now," he continued, "you will tell me what you learned from your interactions with the family."

I glared at him as my strength and breathing returned to normal. There were so many things I wanted to say, most of them expletives, but I held my tongue. "They're…not normal," I told him. "Dr. Kurosaki's like a crazy doting father or something, but he's, like, hard on his son."

"I gleaned that much from my own observations," he said, his back still to me. "Tell me something new, Daniel."

If he wanted new information, then I can give him something that shocked me. A smile tugged on my lips. "There's a stuffed animal that walks and talks." I was grinning ear to ear at that point. More satisfaction occurred when Vlad turned on his heel with this incredulous look on his face. He gawked at me like I had grown a second head.

It was great.

"What?" he asked.

"Yeah," I continued, "sort of like a lion thing. It jumped at my head like it was gonna kick me. He was sort of funny even if I couldn't understand a word he said. Kind of like the Box Ghost in his own way. But, the lion was solid. Like you and me solid."

Vlad's face fell with continued disbelief at what I was saying. Hit the nail on the head with new information there. His hands curled and uncurled with frustration. That meant I pushed my limits about the doll I met. So, maybe it was time to change the subject to something completely different but still sort of relevant. Not something about Ichigo and Rukia. Maybe something about that guy we fought? That's relevant.

"On the other hand, there was this really weird ghost last night." I prepared myself for another partial beat down. My body tensed, ready to roll with th punches. They didn't come and I looked at Vlad. He looked like the epitome of calm. He even smiled at me. It was creepy. But, this seemed to be what he wanted to hear. "Um, yeah. He stood on the air, had red hair, wore all white. He had a bit of a mask, but not really enough to make it much of a mask. I think Ichigo called it a…lan car? Or something like that?"

"Oh, did he?" he asked. I flinched and realized what I said. Which meant he definitely knew I met Ichigo. "The son's able to communicate with you, then."

"Um, no. He can't," I clarified. "He can't speak English." I stood up, fighting the instinct to run out of the room. I kept my hands balled into fists. "But don't let that be an invitation to hang around if he finds me."

"It's cute that you think you have a choice in the matter, Daniel," he laughed. Vlad walked up to me, stopped and looked down. I hated when he did that. "Let's go wander around the city again, hm? If you're good, I'll buy you ice cream." He looked me over and sighed. "Get cleaned up, will you?"

I shoved my hands into pockets and grumbled, "Yeah, sure. Whatever, Vlad." I pulled out clothes from my closet and climbed into the shower, doing as ordered. Truth be told, I agreed with Vlad on this one. I needed to get changed and what not. I unwrapped my bandaged hand and through the cloth into the trash. I smiled while flexing my fingers. Hardly a trace that I'd been burned the night before. Perfect.

About ten minutes later, I hopped out fully dressed and dripping hair. My teeth were brushed and everything. "So, am I clean enough to get ice cream?"

"Quiet, son," he said. He motioned to me to follow him, opened the door and added, "But if you do speak, be sure it's something about Ichigo Kurosaki."

I shrugged, but smiled. He gave me a way out of talking to him about anything. Best thing that came out of this little trip, really. Without a second thought, I kept my mouth shut and shuffled behind Vlad. We entered an elevator. The small space was, thankfully, empty of other passengers. The lack of elbow room forced me to stand very close to him. I tried not to move too much as we fell to the lobby.

It felt like eternity, but we stopped and the doors opened to a wider space. I fell out of the tiny little box and breathed in the freedom of the lobby area. "Danny!" Jazz's voice caught me out of my joy. I swung around to see her and her interpreter by the door. The poor guy looked bored, examining his nails. Jazz didn't seem to notice and bounced over to me. "You're finally out of your room, I see." She hugged me. She rubbed my still wet hair and frowned. "You just showered didn't you, little brother." She sighed. "The jet lag must've been rough."

"Yeah, rough," I said. I hid my hands behind my back. I didn't want her to see even the smallest trace of a fight on me. Jazz would freak out if she knew. Vlad stepped up behind me. Jazz paled, but kept her smile up. Her shoulders, I saw, tensed. I tried to communicate to her through my eyes to keep the conversation normal. "So…are you going to explore the town again?"

She picked up on my cues, at least, and didn't ask about the fact that Vlad was behind me. "Not today. I want to do some research on the local customs for a future thesis on culture differences. I'm looking for some souvenirs, too. Do you want anything?"

I shook my head and she started stumbling. "I'll be around a library," she told me, touching my shoulder. "Be careful, okay?"

"Yeah, you too," I responded. I forced a smile on my face and watched her jog the short distance back to her interpretor. I wish we'd developed a code word to tell each other ghosts were stalking us. Note to self: get on that.

"That was something else, Daniel," drawled Vlad. My heart skipped and I wanted to turn around and punch him in the face.

"Do you have a problem with me talking to my sister, Vlad?" I asked.

"None at all." He started walking away and I, with disgust filling every pore of my body, followed after him. Dragging my feet, I left the hotel and entered the street. My eyes widened with actually looking at where we were. There were so many people just milling about on the streets. Most of them wore business suits, so we must have been somewhere around that part of town. Typical Masters couldn't go anywhere without being around companies.

The buildings were kind of stark and regular looking, so I didn't really gape at them. But, there were vendors and street peddlers. Some of them yelled at me, even. Vlad ignored them even when they waved some of their wares in my face. Like snacks that looked so good. Drool pooled in the corner of my mouth and my stomach growled. Why didn't Vlad let me get breakfast before dragging me out? I was starving!

I grumbled and ignored my stomach for a while longer before I even began to think about bothering Vlad about it. No way was I going to accept things bought by him. He'd think I was beginning to like him, I'd bet. We continued walking down the street, me tailing behind him like a dog.

When we passed by a huge staircase with these huge wooden arch things every so often up the hill, I stopped. Vlad didn't notice for whatever reason so I took the opportunity to get away from him for a bit. Sure, it would probably make things a bit more difficult for me in the long run, but I figured it would be good for me this once.

I passed under the first arch and stepped onto the first step. Looking in the direction Vlad was walking, I took another experimental step. Good, he hadn't noticed. I continued climbing the stone steps. My shoes flopped on the surface, producing a dull sound. The buildings that initially lined the stairs became trees and brush. Sometimes they moved from a small woodland creature, or something. I learned at least one thing on this little outing: our hotel was close to the edge of town.

It was a little weird to be away from anyone I knew and I shivered from the silence. I could hear the city in the background, but it wasn't something that pressed around me. Human voices weren't even distinct. I ran a hand through my hair and laughed. "Come on, Fenton. Just keep going and see what's at the top of the hill. Then you can go ghost and find Vlad like nothing ever happened."

The rest of the climb felt like forever. The top never seemed to get any closer and I was a millimeter away from just using my powers and flying up. But, I wanted the satisfaction of telling Sam I could do it without dying.

The top of the stairs finally passed under my feet and I nearly collapsed. I wobbled on my knees as I continued forward, walking to a wooden well. I sat at its edge and looked around. It was a pretty large square of stone with a couple of long wooden buildings at the edges. The doors were shut and I had the sudden feeling that I was, well, trespassing on something I shouldn't have been. The place felt old, but well-kept. I wondered who took care of it, since it looked like no one was around.

I shivered and saw the blue mist of my ghost sense. I did not want to do anything with ghosts that day and leaned my head back. Let Ichigo handle it, I thought. A replay of last night flew through my head. If I left it to Ichigo, then the ghost would likely die. Er, die again. Groaning, I pushed myself to my feet and looked around for the ghost. I didn't see anything in my immediate sight, but that didn't really mean anything in my line of work. I looked around, to be sure no one was watching, and transformed into Phantom. I flew up over the tree line and looked around. Again, there was nothing around to see. Unless this ghost was something I was used to, there was nothing around anymore.

After a while of circling the empty skies, I returned to the quiet little area I found and returned to my human form. I settled down at the well and reveled my Vlad-free time for a bit longer. My ghost sense went off again and I went rigid. That was odd. I stood up and cautiously looked around me. There was nothing to see, from what I immediately noticed. "Okay," I said. "That's not weird at all." I backed away from the well, heading towards the stairs. Even if it was the fruit loop, I figured it was time to get around people. Preferably, one I could understand.

"_Oi, boi!_" A female's voice called out to me. I spun on my heel to see a very tall, very beautiful woman standing in front of the well. She had the most yellow eyes I'd ever seen and purple hair tied up. I'd bet Sam would have loved to meet this woman. She crossed her arms and cocked her hip. She looked straight at me and smiled, showing pointed teeth. Blood drained out of my face when I saw that smile. In the blink of an eye, mystery woman disappeared for a second.

She was right in front of me, bending over to look me in the eyes. I stepped back and tripped on my heel. She caught me by the arm and held me steady, saying something in Japanese. One of the words might have been my name. "Listen, lady," I tried not to let her hear my panic in my voice, "I don't know who you are, but I have to be somewhere."

She shook her head and gave that same toothy smile. It reminded me of a cat playing with its food. I gulped. She said something else before tightening the grip on my arm. I didn't have time to phase through it before I went flying with an arm around my body, keeping me close. I couldn't make out a single detail of the journey except for the rush of wind against my ears and the quick dry my hair was getting. A strange thought went through my head: did Vlad hire this crazy lady? I squeezed my eyes shut. We were going a lot faster than my flight.

As abruptly as I went flying, we stopped. She held me easily in the crook of one arm. The world returned to normal and I felt whatever had been in my stomach start to come up. I slapped a hand over my mouth and fought down the bile. No way was I going to throw up now. I guessed upon hearing me gag, the woman dropped me on the floor.

I forced myself to sit upright and examine my surroundings. I sat before a short step with slippers right in front of me. I heard the woman step up and walk over, speaking to someone whose voice I didn't recognize. Vlad didn't immediately say anything, so I supposed he wasn't around anywhere. I stared at the slippers and rubbed the back of my head. I glanced over the stair to see my kidnapper talking to some blond guy in a striped hat. Some other voices filtered in from further back. I recognized Ichigo's and Rukia's. I stood up, rubbing the back of my head. "Um, hello?" My voice was weak, but it was enough to get their attention.

"Ah, _welucahm, Danny-san_!" said creepy blond man. He waved a fan at the slippers and said something I didn't understand (surprise, surprise). But, I figured he wanted me to wear the slippers so I kicked off my shoes and shoved my feet into them. They felt kind of cozy, actually. But, I was really weirded out by the fact that he knew my name. Then again, if Ichigo was here, then it might not be that strange.

"Thanks," I said. Creepy man then motioned with the fan for me to go to the back. Mind you, he was speaking in Japanese the entire time. I mostly tuned it out. I kept my eye on him and the lady, biting back my questions for them. I wouldn't get answers I could understand, anyway. They followed behind me and I straightened my back, ready to flee if necessary.

The door slid open and I became the center of attention to too many eyes then I ever cared for. A nudge pushed me further into the room and the door closed behind me. I felt my stomach drop as I realized I would be the center of a conversation I wouldn't have a hope of understanding.

**A/N:** A little short, but that's okay, right? You got a new chapter. Some development in the progression and trust me, the next chapter will have lots of stuff happening. I promise.


	4. Lose the Barrier

**A/N**: I've been sitting on this chapter for months. I'm sorry. I'm terrible. I understand if you're upset with me. ( u m u ) If there's an inconsistency in any terminology I used in previous chapters, let me know. Also, any constructive crit would, of course, be great!

**Disclaimer**: Non-profit work. Just having fun no harm meant to anyone's rights.

Most dialogue in italics is English as spoken or heard by a non-native English speaker. Don't assume that the italics are understood by the POV character, however.

* * *

><p>Culture Shock<br>A crossover fanfic by MidnightResWri

* * *

><p>Ichigo's POV<p>

* * *

><p>Chapter 4: Lose the Barrier<p>

The boy Danny stared at us from the room's entrance. Yoruichi and Urahara casually walked in the room as if nothing was wrong with kidnapping some kid off the streets. From my experiences with the man, this latest stunt seemed less unbelievable for him to do than anything else. He was crazy sometimes.

The shinigami in the room narrowed their eyes on the kid. Orihime tilted her head in confusion, though I figured she was already piecing things together. Chad didn't move. I sent him a reassuring smile. "_Hey Danny_," I said.

Danny fixed his big eyes on me, pupils small and he had folded in on himself from all the attention on him from the others. He was a lot different like this than he was in his other form. He raised a timid hand and waved at me in return for the greeting. He bit his lip and then shifted his eyes to each person around the room, shivering despite the summer heat.

"Well, now that everyone is here," said Urahara from behind Danny, "I suppose we should begin."

Orihime nodded her head toward Danny and asked, "Does he speak Japanese?"

Urahara laughed, waving a hand. "No, of course not."

"Then what's the point of bringing him here?" Renji scowled. "Is he just gonna be for show?"

Urahara hid his face behind that fan of his and I could practically see the Cheshire smile behind it. He chuckled and from the corner of my eye I caught Danny taking an involuntary step back. "He'll be telling us about himself, Abarai-kun," he said.

"Well this will be useless, then," said Toshiro. "Unless there's someone fluent in his language and is willing to interpret what he says, of course." The little captain pinched the bridge of his nose.

"None of us speak English that well," I said. Orihime might have one of the highest scores in our English class but we certainly hadn't covered enough to get us through the topic we'd be talking about now. Chad would have been perfect if Danny spoke Spanish and Uryuu wasn't around for this. I didn't even know if he would have been a better choice as an interpreter.

I looked at Urahara, sure that he would have a plan to get around the language barrier. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have brought Danny here in the first place. Well, I was mostly sure about that. Rukia said, "If you're going to do something, then do it, Urahara. I'm sure the caption doesn't appreciate time being wasted."

Urahara folded his fan with a flick of his wrist and withdrew a syringe with his free hand. Danny took an involuntary step back when he happened to look at the needle. I raised an eyebrow at that. He hardly flinched when fighting that Arrancar, but the sight of a needle set him on edge. What did he expect Urahara to do to him, I wondered. "I'm sure he wouldn't, Rukia-san," said Urahara, waving the syringe around. "I've developed something special in the event our worlds should cross. Yoruichi-san, if you would do the honors?"

"Wait, hold on," I said. "What do you mean, you've developed something?" I pointed to the syringe. "What the hell is that gonna do?"

Urahara's smile never dropped. "It'll give him everything he needs to communicate with us in modern Japanese and understand what he's saying, of course," he explained. "I haven't tested it yet, though, and I can't remember if I added the reading patch to it or not…"

He trailed off, hand on his chin trying to recall what he created.

"You…haven't tested it?" I deadpanned. I was pretty sure there would be no stopping the mad scientist when he got his mind on something. Still, I worried about Danny and how he'd turn out if he didn't just bolt right then and there. I was pretty surprised he stayed this long considering how nervous he looked.

Danny's eyes, however, were fixed on the Urahara and the syringe. He didn't notice Yoruichi flashstep, taking the needle from Urahara, behind him with syringe in hand and quickly jabbing the point into his neck.

It would have been a lie to say that no one in the room made a noise and watched without doing anything. Orihime was already across the room with a hand on one of her hair clips beside Danny. The kid cried out when the needle was removed and Yoruichi back in her place against the wall. Toshiro stood with his hand near his zanpakuto's hilt (Did he think the kid would attack?). Yumichika made a grimace and muttered something about ugliness. I didn't try to understand what that was about. Most everyone else watched warily from the sidelines.

Danny, after the initial shock wore off a minute or two later, blinked in surprise that nothing about his body had changed. He stared at his hands like he had back in my room, but they didn't disappear. "What was that?" he whispered in perfect Japanese. He frowned and looked around the room. "No, really, what did that stuff you put in me do?"

My face dropped in surprise. "Danny?" I said, testing this new comprehension. "Uh, can you understand what I'm saying?"

"Of course, I can—" he cut himself off when the realization hit him. He touched his face, as if confirming he was in his own body. "What is going on? Am I speaking Japanese? Is that what I'm doing?"

He backed himself against the door, breathing heavily. Danny grabbed his head, pulling at his hair and chanting that it couldn't be happening. He slid himself down to the floor and Orihime went to his side and embraced him, telling him that it would be okay.

Ikaku made a noise of displeasure and turned his head away. I think Rangiku glared at him from her place at Toshiro's side.

All the while, Orihime managed to calm Danny down from his breakdown. He didn't look happy with sudden fluency in another language. He probably wondered if he'd be able to speak English again. "So," he said after a while, "am I going to speak Japanese for the rest of my life?"

He looked down, pointedly avoiding both Urahara and Yoruichi. Urahara answered, "Ah, no. Maybe. The way I designed it was to utilize the brain's natural processing of language for you to be able to distinguish and automatically be able to respond to a Japanese speaker and understand what they tell you. You can speak in English or Japanese at anytime you want, but you have to make the conscious decision about which language you prefer depending on the which language of the two is more prominent around you."

"So, while I'm in Japan," said Danny, rubbing his temple, "and I want to speak to my family, I'll have to _think_ that I want to speak in English?"

"Ah, allow me to clarify," Urahara chuckled. "If you're speaking with an English speaker, that is the language you will use. When speaking with a Japanese speaker, you'll be speaking Japanese. At least, in theory. Does that make sense?"

"That…wait," Danny glared at the man. "Theory? What is this some untested tech you put in me?"

Urahara waved his fan, smiling and remaining silent. Well, I didn't think that would go over too well. Danny's eyes were glowing green and I didn't think that was going to be any good. I stepped forward to prevent fighting. Sure, there are times I want to punch the man in the face, too, but there were more important things to do while everyone was together. "Danny, calm down for a second." I scratched the back of my head. "We did this so we could talk with you."

"It's true," said Toshiro. "We don't know anything about your kind of spirit. Whatever he injected in you allows you to communicate with us and that's all we need."

"Spirit?" Danny laughed. "I haven't heard that used to describe ghosts. Specters, spooks, ghosts, protoplasmic scum, sure. But spirit? That's a new one."

The shinigami exchanged looks with one another, confused. I wasn't sure I got it either. Urahara broke the silence. "Ghosts," he said, faking enthusiasm. "How wonderful that we get to learn about them!"

"Uh, my ghost sense has been going off like crazy since I got to this place and you guys tell me you aren't ghosts?" asked Danny, incredulous. He crossed his arms and looked away from the group. "I'm not buying it."

"We are shinigami. We protect Soul Society and the spirits who live there as well as those souls of the living," explained Toshiro. "Our main purpose is to purify Hollows."

Danny's eyes widened at the mention of Hollows, probably remembering the night before. "Wait…so that guy last night…Ichigo said something about it being a Hollow. What exactly does that mean?"

Rukia pulled out her sketchbook and cleared her throat. She hadn't changed her pictures since she explained the basics of hollows to me so long ago. She flipped the images as she explained to Danny, who was, apparently, listening attentively. He nodded and then asked why the Hollow from last night didn't look like a monster and didn't have much of a mask on its face. So she told him about the Menos Grande and then the Arrancar and how they removed their masks, or at least parts of their masks, to gain more power. Then, he asked why her drawings sucked earning him the sketchbook to be thrown at his face.

Surprisingly, the book didn't go through his head. It hit him right on the head and he rubbed the spot where it landed on. Then, he raised his arms in surrender and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, sorry, I won't do that again," he said.

With that, the conversation about spirits and Soul Society continued. It was hard for him to wrap his head around certain concepts like reishii and reiatsu. He kept referring to something called ectoplasm as a comparison. Odd, considering he should be made of the same stuff as souls, right? He did eventually decide that comprehending that part of spirits could wait and moved onto the next topic. He also asked why no one saw the Hollow when he first encountered me and Rukia. So we had to explain that spirits were invisible to most humans unless they were spiritually aware to a sufficient degree.

"Okay, you're definitely not ghosts," concluded Danny at the end of that. "I don't understand a lot of things, but I guess that's because I'm not like you guys."

"Okay, now that we've got you caught up on us, what about you and ghosts?" asked Renji.

"Well, ghosts are made of ectoplasm," said Danny. "It's like this green…gooey stuff that's not from the real world. And, well, the ghosts come from the Ghost Zone. That's pretty much varying shades of green and lots of doors. Sometimes there are landmasses floating around. Every ghost has the basic powers of flight, intangibility, invisibility, overshadowing and some have more unique powers. That's really it, I guess."

"Where do ghosts come from?" asked Toshiro. "How are they made?"

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, sometimes they're dead people, other times they just kinda form in the Ghost Zone. I don't really understand how that works, to be honest."

"Well," came a voice from nowhere, "I might be of some use, then. After all," swirl of blue appeared in the middle of the room and a cloaked figure emerged from it, "I know everything." It felt a lot more powerful than Danny was last night.

Most everyone stood up, if they were sitting, and prepared for a fight with the stranger. Danny, I noticed, didn't look worried at all. In fact, he was smiling and walked up to the figure, who changed shape to the form of an infant wearing a purple cloak and carrying a relatively enormous staff. I blinked to be sure that I wasn't seeing things.

Urahara also looked unconcerned for the uninvited guest.

"Clockwork? What are you doing here?" asked Danny. "Is this whole meeting going to mess with the timeline or something? I'm not going to…you know…from this am I?"

There was fear in his eyes when he asked that last question. I filed that away for a later conversation. It reminded me of what I saw in the mirror after my 'conversations' with that _thing_.

"Thankfully no, Daniel," replied the floating thing—Clockwork—as he changed to a form of a man. "I'm here because I'm officially the liaison for the Ghost Zone to Soul Society. The Council was smart in their decision of appointing me, at least. Not that they had much choice." He smirked.

"Council?" asked Toshiro. "Your Ghost Zone is governed then?"

Clockwork turned his attention from Danny to Toshiro and chuckled. "I wouldn't go so far as to say their rule is absolute. The Ghost Zone has a High Council of Observants, but they really only observe. Rarely do they interfere and if they do it's to imprison ghosts who cross too many lines for their taste. The Zone edges on chaos rather than the order perceived by Soul Society. You would probably liken it to Hueco Mundo even if the comparison is rather flawed."

"Hm, that sounds like Hitsugaya-taicho's worst nightmare," said Rangiku, side-eying her captain with a devilish smirk. Toshiro, for his part, seemed to ignore his vice-captain's comment.

"You mentioned you're the liaison for the Ghost Zone to Soul Society," said Toshiro. "Why is it that we haven't seen you with the Seireitei's walls, then?"

Clockwork nodded his head, changing form again into a frail looking elder with a very long beard. I was starting to wonder if he aged and deaged on purpose or if that was just something he couldn't control. "Yes, it's been a long time since I visited Soul Society. Our worlds don't necessarily collide like this. Ghosts and spirits tend to remain in their separate spheres so there isn't much use for me to cross into Soul Society or for a Shinigami to visit the Ghost Zone."

"So, why are there two afterlives?" I asked. "Danny mentioned that some of your ghosts come from the dead and it's the same for the spirits."

"Ah, Kurosaki Ichigo," said Clockwork, "that is an excellent question and one that should be answered should everything be understood. Earth is, indeed, residence to two afterlives. They don't typically collide with one another in terms of Earth geography and spiritually they never touch. But why, indeed, is there that division in the first place?" He closed his eyes for a moment before continuing. "There are, for as long as humanity's been around, two types of souls. It's because of their different construction that they require different needs in the afterlife. They both emerged around the same time.

"One type was formed in areas where reishii was prominent. These would become residents of the three spiritual planes that later became known as 'Soul Society', 'Hueco Mundo', and 'Hell.' These souls can also recycle themselves, creating a balance between the living and the dead.

"The other would rely on the powers of emotions to carry on their consciousness. The concentration of ectoplasm also helped. Not every living person becomes a ghost. If one is content with life, then they will not have the emotional strength to remain on as a ghost. Life is more final with this type of soul. We don't have the ability to reincarnate. Death is a bit more permanent with the ectoplasm-based souls."

Questions then directed towards Clockwork about the Ghost Zone and the Ghosts. I kept out of it, settling for listening and taking in the knowledge. Danny noticed most his role in the discussion had been taken over by Clockwork, who at some point explained he was the Ghost of Time. He made his way over to me and sat down at my side.

Clockwork talked at length about the three different types of ghosts that existed. The dead, the neverlived, and the Manifestations (as he called them). There were few Manifestations, but they were ideas and forces of nature and the strongest beings of the Ghost Zone. Things like dreams and weather had a ghostly Manifestation in the Ghost Zone. Clockwork told us that he was one them, which explained why his spiritual presence felt so powerful in the first place. The neverlived were the natives of the Ghost Zone, having formed in a particularly denser area of ectoplasm inside the Zone itself.

Then, the question that had been bothering everyone cropped up. Danny curled his knees to his chest and buried his face in his arms. "Which one is the kid?" asked Renji, gesturing towards Danny. "Far as I can tell, he's still alive."

Clockwork turned his red eyes on Danny and said, "That is for Daniel to answer. His case is almost unique."

Danny sighed and stayed curled in on himself a little longer before standing. He didn't look at anyone but asked, in English, "_Do I have to? I haven't told my parents yet."_

"_Daniel, it will help them understand that you are not a threat to them. You are also not completely alone in your hybrid stature here,"_ replied Clockwork and he glanced at me. I tilted my head in confusion. Were they talking about me? _"Either way, it will be to your advantage if this group knows who you are."_

Danny looked away and then nodded. "OK." He glanced around the room, took a deep breath. "I'm not part of the three categories of ghosts Clockwork talked about. Well, not yet, I guess? I'm alive, but I'm dead at the same time. I, uh," he paused and ran a hand through his hair. He took a deep breath and slowly breathed it out. "I had an accident in my parent's basement lab. They were building a ghost portal to the Ghost Zone and it didn't work when they powered it up.

"Well, I went inside and accidentally pressed the ON button—kinda silly to put that on the inside, right?—and the portal activated with me still inside. So, I gained my ghost form and the powers of a ghost. One ghost I met about a month after that called me a halfa: half ghost, half kid. Someone else called me a human-ghost hybrid. That's really about it."

We stared at him. That was a lot for someone to say in a short amount of time. He was in an accident that should have killed him from the sounds of it, but didn't. Not completely. Danny ducked his head and fiddled with his fingers, looking more uncomfortable than he had when he was kidnapped to the meeting. I cast a quick glance around the room. Most of the faces were somber, feeling sympathy for the kid. Orihime was nearly crying for him.

Clockwork smiled at Danny and rested a hand on his shoulders. He said something to him in English which seemed to make him feel a little better because he had a small smile on his face.

The ghost then turned to Urahara, "You seem well Kisuke. But, you are worrying a little too much."

Urahara shook his head, "There you go being cryptic again. Can't I get a little sneak peek of what's to come?"

Clockwork smirked. "I'm afraid I can't do that. It's not within my rights. I do have a timeline to protect."

"Of course," Urahara smiled. "Well, then I suppose you should go back to your watchtower?"

Clockwork bowed his head and disappeared in the same kind of portal he arrived through. With his departure, the shinigami began to converse about how the revelation of ghosts' changed the existence of the world as they knew it. Some of them still wanted to deny that ghosts and spirits were different despite the evidence in front of them.

I turned to Danny, who looked like he wanted to ignore the conversation. "You okay?" I asked him.

"Oh yeah, just revealed my greatest secret to a bunch of people I don't know," he scoffed. "I'm just fine."

"I understand why you'd want to keep it a secret," I said. "It's not something you can really tell people. I mean, I leave my body behind when I become a shinigami."

"My parents are ghost hunters," said Danny. "They actively try to kill me when I'm in my ghost form. At least you don't have that problem. You also have the added bonus of being invisible to normals." He paused and then looked at me, "Wait, do all of you leave bodies just lying on the ground? Ew."

"Just me," I told him. "I'm not dead, either. I'm just able to leave my body behind when I need to. Rukia and the other shinigami are using false bodies when they're not using their power. When they leave, they eat these things that put in like, another personality to keep people from getting suspicious. How no one notices the changes in personality is another story altogether."

"Huh," he said. "That's even weirder." He glanced at his wrist like it had a watch on. "Well, I've had a blast meeting all of you, but I think I should get going. I think my—" he shuddered "—chaperone would have noticed my absence by now."

"Yes, yes," said Urahara, "you're free to leave whenever you'd like, Danny-san. If you'd like Yoruichi would be more than happy to return you to the shrine she found you at?"

Danny shook his head. "Nope, no way. I'm not gonna let her anywhere near me again."

Yoruichi smirked at the raised challenge and flashstepped behind him. She touched a hand to his head and Danny jumped up, transformed to that other form in midair and flew through the roof. He didn't even say goodbye. We watched him go and then returned to the discussion at hand. No one seemed to question Urahara knowing Clockwork.

That felt like one of the only things that happened in the last few hours that made any sense. He always knew more than the rest of us about whatever it was that was going on. Knowing about ghosts and the Ghost Zone just seemed obvious.

But, now, the shinigami had to make decisions regarding their new knowledge about ghosts and the second afterlife. Just when we needed to prepare for a war against Aizen and his Arrancar, we got another thing to worry about. Wonderful.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: I'm sorry, I had to create fanon to smooth these two out had to happen and it's really just my own musings on how they could possibly coexist.


End file.
